Under Pressure
by Turquoise O'Sullivan
Summary: When news of the outbreak first hit the news, no one could believe it. When people started to cannibalize each other, still, no one believed it. Even after the military tried separating the living from the sick, people still couldn't believe it. But when the dead came back to life, that was when it started sinking in.
1. Chapter 1

_"People forget that when civilization ends, it ends fast."_ -Tobias, **Fear the Walking Dead**

* * *

The engine sputtered for a moment before stopping, the car slowly coming to a halt. The Georgia sun was shining brightly and heatedly on the disastrous landscape below. Thankfully, it was a little after midday, so Tiana wasn't in _too_ much of a bad place, but it didn't help that the only form of transportation she had just died.

A sigh came from the backseat. "We should've checked for gas when we were on that highway," Céline, a friend of Tiana's, mumbled. Céline Mallory and Tiana Perez had been in the same group of survivors just two weeks prior - Tiana, who had been on her own at the time, was having a little difficulty taking down a small horde of dead brains, Céline had saved her life. Unfortunately, Tiana would only be with the group for a total of five days before a horde of dead brains - bigger than anything Tiana's ever faced - had been passing through their campsite and nearly devoured everyone there. Tiana tried saving as many people as she could, but Céline had grabbed her hand and forced her to run before she could get herself killed. The "dead brains" were the reanimated, the living dead. Those killing machines, granted they were slow as hell, were persistent in their hunger for the living. Tiana lost track of how much time had gone by since everything went downhill - in the beginning of the outbreak, reports were saying an "unknown virus" was going global, infecting millions in an instant. Then after _getting_ the virus, there had been reports of "cannibalization," and then came the topic of "zombies." It all went to shit from there.

"There were too many dead brains for me to check," Tiana said, her voice clipped. "Even with two of us, we wouldn't have been able to take them."

Céline leaned forward, resting her chin on the shoulder of the driver's side seat. Her dirty blonde hair had been pulled back into a ponytail, her green eyes tired and irritated. "What're we supposed to do now?" she asked.

"Walk."

"Where?"

"Anywhere."

Sighing, Céline gave Tiana a dry look. "How are we going to find a place before nightfall?" she grumbled.

"By not arguing in a dead car," Tiana exclaimed.

Without another word, Céline and Tiana climbed out of the car, grabbed their backpacks, and slung them over their shoulders. They had spent a decent amount of time on the road, jumping from place to place, trying to find as many supplies as possible. At the moment, their food was tight and water wasn't looking too good either, especially with the Georgian heat making their throats dry almost immediately.

"There should be a town a couple miles from here," Tiana said.

"We're pretty exposed." Céline looked around; they were walking down a relatively big dirt road, woods on either side of them. "We should walk in the wooded area."

Thinking it over, Tiana nodded wordlessly. If they could follow the road from the woods, then they wouldn't be so easily detected from others - that is, if no one else was in the woods with them. As they walked over, Tiana took out her machete while Céline took out her knife.

The shade felt nice, but didn't ease the heat up too much.

Keeping her machete raised slightly in case of an attack, Tiana kept a close eye on her surroundings. If she and Céline were going to make it to the next town alive, they needed to have a sharp eye on everything.

In the back of her mind, Tiana knew that if she had been told two years ago that she'd be surviving the end of the world, she would've laughed. _There's no way in hell something like that could actually happen! You're insane._ Tiana could imagine herself saying something like that. The end of the world was always something people read in books, played in video games, or watched in movies or cheesy TV shows. _Especially_ if it involved zombies. Zombies had been pretty popular. All those movies and shows and video games gave people a false sense of hope that if the zombie apocalypse _did_ happen, they'd know what to do and what _not_ to do.

Turns out no one has a _single clue_ on how to survive the apocalypse.

 ** _—Under Pressure_** ** _—_**

 _Tiana was sitting on the edge of her seat, her hands clasped in front of her mouth as she watched the news in silent horror. Reports of cannibalization were starting to rise - anyone who'd been infected with the virus, at least in the later stages, would attack other people and eat them. The worst part? Those who were attacking looked almost dead._

 _A sharp knock on Tiana's locked front door snapped her out of her horror._

 _Grabbing her handgun, Tiana quietly rushed over to the door before looking out the peephole. She let out a sigh of relief. Opening her door, she was greeted with the horrified face of her friend (and roommate), Miley._

 _Quickly letting Miley in before closing and locking the door, the two women embraced._

 _"You had me worried sick!" Tiana exclaimed, looking at her friend anxiously. "What took you so long?"_

 _Miley looked as pale as a ghost, her eyes wide and glazed over. "It is. . . .I don't even know," she stammered. "People are going crazy. They're hitting the stores first, the pharmacies - people are literally rioting out there."_

 _Tiana could faintly hear the commotion from the streets below from her apartment, but she didn't dare go look. Miley had volunteered to go to the store and pick out whatever nonperishables she could get, despite Tiana telling her not to._

 _"You're making me nervous with that gun, Tia," Miley mumbled._

 _She silently put the handgun down. "What did you get?" Tiana asked._

 _"I got some soup, some canned beans, and one thing of canned corn." Miley laid what she got on Tiana's kitchen counter. It wasn't much, but it added to their growing collection. When news of the virus started getting really bad, that was when everyone started stocking up on the essentials - medicine, canned foods, any cleaning supplies they could get their hands on. Miley stocked up on the nonperishables, Tiana had gotten the medicine (or as much of it as she could afford)._

 _"When is this going to blow over?" Tiana mumbled._

 _Miley shook her head._

It can't get any worse than this, can it? _Tiana thought, unconsciously biting her bottom lip._

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **I know it took a while for this chapter to be posted, but here it is. Let me know what you think of it. Was it good? Was it bad? Was it meh?**

 **Do I own TWD? No. No I don't.**

 **In case there was any confusion on the first chapter: Tiana and Celine are friends; Céline saved Tiana from some walkers, then brought Tiana back to her group; Céline's and Tiana's group is dead after a big herd devoured them; Miley was Tiana's old roommate and friend from before the outbreak. I'll be sure to add more information on Tiana as the story goes on.**

 **Leave a review on how I can improve.**

 **Sully**


	2. Chapter 2

_"Do you see the beauty of it? The inevitability? You rise, only to fall."_ -Ultron, **Avengers: Age of Ultron**

* * *

Tiana could vividly remember the days before the outbreak. The way life seemed to be a whole lot easier - how her life had a simple routine to it. Tiana remembered the days she'd watch horror movies revolving around the end of the world, how she'd make fun of the main characters and list off all the things _she'd_ do to survive during the apocalypse. In those moments, she was joking around; where she was at the moment, walking with Céline on a dirt road in Georgia, she was still trying to wrap parts of her brain around it. The day the virus had been aired on the news, no one thought too much of it; it wasn't until it had been announced that the virus was not only incurable - mostly because doctors couldn't find out where it came from or how to develop vaccinations for it - but it had a 100% chance of killing whoever it infected.

That was what caused the uproar.

In no time at all, there were reports of people with the virus seemingly going insane, attacking and cannibalizing others. Whoever the infected attacked, the victims would contract it. It was a never-ending cycle. Those who managed to avoid being attacked were rioting, fighting back however they could. Tiana remembered seeing people ganging up on each other, paranoid over who they believed were infected. Violence broke out. Then the military came in, separating the healthy people from the ones who looked sickly.

Hospitals were quarantined.

Towns were under lockdown.

People were terrified.

The military had taken over, telling everyone what they needed to know and do in order to make it through the epidemic.

But, in time, even the military had turned their backs on them. When it became clear that the virus wasn't going to be contained in any way, the military overlooking Tiana's part of town had all but abandoned them. They took all the essentials they were dividing between the people with them.

Tiana could understand the violence that occurred afterward.

Various buildings were broken into, the valuables inside stolen. Stores were hit, then pharmacies. Tiana and Miley had taken everything they could into two separate backpacks and left.

It had been during the time the military was in charge of caring for the people that the power had been shut off. All technology was useless. Anyone who managed to survive the second wave of rioting were officially isolated from the rest of the world.

Without any knowledge of what was being done with the virus, survivors were left to figure it out on their own. Those who had become "crazed" from the virus attacked whoever was healthy - whoever was _alive_. It would be much later when anyone figured out that the aggressive, albeit slow, infected people were actually dead. Somehow, and it still terrified Tiana to think about, the virus would reanimate the ones who died from it.

"You OK?" Céline's question broke Tiana out of her mind, breaking her out of the dark spot in her mind. She nodded wordlessly. Céline's face said otherwise.

"I was just thinking about before."

"Before?" Confusion laced Céline's voice.

"Before the outbreak," Tiana sighed. "How everything was so irritatingly simple."

"It makes you wonder just how much crap you took for granted."

Tiana nodded. Céline was right. There were so many things Tiana took for granted, things she wished she could still have. Hospitals, _cars_ , gas, technology - things that were so basic to everyone, it was weird living life without it.

"I miss it," Tiana said.

"I'm sure plenty of people miss it," Céline murmured.

 ** _—Under Pressure_** ** _—_**

After a while, the dirt road Tiana and Céline were on led to another road where plenty of abandoned cars were left. The two women immediately checked the cars for dead brains before breaking into the cars to try and hotwire them. Céline had more knowledge when it came to hotwiring cars than Tiana, but she was learning quickly.

After many failed attempts, Céline had broken into a pickup truck while Tiana kept watch. When the engine roared to life, a sense of relief washed over them.

"Let's get outta here," Céline exclaimed.

"How much gas is left?" Tiana asked.

"About half a gallon. We should be good for a little while."

"We should siphon for more gas while we're here," Tiana said. A look swept across Céline's face, one almost similar to embarrassment, before the pickup was turned off and the two women went on a hunt to gather as much gas as they could. Killing the occasional dead brain, the two women gathered about a quarter of a gallon of gas, saving it for when they needed it, before the truck was started up again and they were on their way.

 ** _—Under Pressure_** _ **—**_

It would be about twenty minutes before Céline and Tiana would end up on another highway leading to Atlanta. Looking out the window, Tiana took note of how everything looked. The road she and Céline were driving down was pretty much abandoned, the road going parallel to the one they were driving on was _filled_ with abandoned cars and trucks.

"What do you think we'll find?" Tiana looked at her friend with a solemn frown. Since their group had been taken down, neither Tiana nor Céline had any real plan on going anywhere; they were just travelling wherever they could.

"Food, shelter, ammo." Céline shrugged. "Whatever else Atlanta's got."

Humming, Tiana rested her head against the back of her seat.

Hopefully whatever Atlanta was offering would be worth it.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **What do you guys think so far? It's only 2 chapters in, and I know it isn't much, but any kind of constructive criticism you may have would be awesome!**

 **If I could own TWD, I'd probably be the happiest person ever. Sadly, I do not.**

 **As a heads up for anyone reading this, if you're wondering why it appears I updated the same chapter twice, please don't review. I know it's happening. It'll go away once the new chapter is posted. If you'd be patient, that'd be great.**

 **Also, I am currently back in college, so I am finding a middle-ground between work and school so if it seems like I'm not updating often, that's why.**

 **Leave a review on how I can improve.**

 **Sully**


	3. Chapter 3

_"Screws fall out all the time, the world is an imperfect place."_ -John Bender, **The Breakfast Club**

* * *

Céline and Tiana continued on into Atlanta in silence. Tiana looked out the window of the passenger's side, looking at the abandoned and dilapidated city with slight indifference mixing with the sadness that still bubbled up every now and again. Cars were parked in various spots, some with the windows broken or the doors left wide open; buildings had their windows open, whatever contents that had been inside were scattered all over the ground. Papers were plastered to the streets and to sidewalks; weeds and other plants were starting to become wild in their growth. Tiana even noticed a few dead brains wandering, turning their heads at the sound of the car's engine, but not being able to keep up.

Occasionally, Tiana would see a huddle of dead brains eating an unfortunate animal that hadn't been quick enough, and that hurt her even more. Before the outbreak, Tiana had been going to school to become a veterinarian; she had been only a few weeks away from graduating. Animals had been Tiana's passion, and it hurt her seeing them become as vulnerable and tormented.

 _Let's hope this place is deserted,_ she thought solemnly. The _last_ thing she wanted to deal with was another group of survivors.

"Last time I was here, I saw a couple shops a few blocks down," Céline said, snapped Tiana out of her thoughts. "We might be able to find some food and water."

"Maybe some medicine, too."

Céline nodded at that. "Maybe some medicine."

"When've you been in Atlanta?" Tiana looked at Céline with furrowed brows. It didn't really surprise her that much that Céline had been to Atlanta before, the group they'd been in moved around a lot; there was bound to be a time where they were in Atlanta at one point. Though Tiana suspected it was probably before she joined.

"It hadn't been that long before we found you," she answered. "There were more dead brains, a lot more survivors, too."

Tiana didn't doubt it. Despite her wishes for there not to be _any_ survivors - no matter how important it may be to find other people - in any of the towns or cities she and Céline visited, she knew there'd be others there regardless of what she wanted. In the long run, what Tiana wanted didn't matter anymore. If she was going to make it to the end of the day, she was going to have to put her selfish desires aside.

"Looks pretty abandoned to me." Tiana's face scrunched up a little when she saw a couple dead brains try and shuffle after the car, their arms raised as if they were intending on grabbing it. In the span of time that passed since the outbreak started, the dead brains were going through various stages of decay - their skins were turning various colors, peeling off at various parts of their body; dried blood stained their faces and wherever they were bitten or killed; their clothes were tattered and filthy. Not to mention how emaciated most of them looked, or how their lifeless eyes still managed to focus on you, as if they were truly seeing you. But the one thing that haunted Tiana about the dead brains were their teeth, in the later stages of decay but still as deadly as ever. Tiana knew that if she found herself face-to-face with one of those, her life could end with a single bite.

And, from what she had seen so far, it was a long and painful death.

Céline shrugged nonchalantly, obviously not bothered by what was going on around her. "It's been a while since I've been back here," she sighed. "I wouldn't be surprised if it was abandoned."

"Did you ever live here?"

Céline shook her head. "My parents wanted to move here, after my father retired. They never got the chance." Céline was open about her past, though Tiana did notice there had to be a certain level of trust for her to go further into it. Tiana only knew little bits and pieces of Céline's life before the outbreak - her mother being French, her father had been in the military, she had an older brother who died early on. That was all Céline had said.

If there was one thing Tiana was certain of, it was that she knew Céline was older than her. It wasn't so much that it was physically obvious, it was just in the way Céline acted. Tiana was barely over twenty, Céline had to be somewhere in her early thirties.

"It's getting close to sundown." Céline's voice came out a little tight. "We'll find a place to camp for the night, OK?"

One thing that Tiana appreciated about her friend was that she knew when to take control of certain situations. Céline had been dubbed "second-in-command" of their old group, the leader being an older woman named Ashe - the whole group was terrified of her. Ashe had been a big, brutal woman, and Tiana wouldn't have been surprised if she made it out of the dead brain herd alive, wandering somewhere by herself or with a new group. Céline had always talked about Ashe being a "natural-born survivalist," but Tiana hadn't been with the group long enough to have found out.

Before Céline parked the car near an alleyway, Tiana got out her backpack and opened it. She had one other pair of clothes shoved inside, some extra hair ties, two canned goods, a bottle of water only half filled, and probably expired deodorant. There tends to be a time limit when it comes to finding the essentials, so Tiana doesn't really pay much attention when it comes to "expiration dates" or things like that.

"There's an old thrift shop right here," Céline said, parking the car then nodding to one of the brick buildings. "We'll be in and out before sundown."

 _I certainly hope so,_ Tiana thought, zipping her backpack up.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **I know these chapters aren't long, but hopefully they're still interesting. Just let me know what you think, that's the important thing.**

 **Nothing in TWD will ever be mine.**

 **I know it took a while for me to post this chapter, but hopefully you guys like it anyway. I'll try and go a little further into the backstory of Céline and Tiana as the story progresses. In case there's any curiosity on who the "main character" is, it's Tiana. She'll also be paired with Daryl later on, but chances are it'll take a while. So, until then, let me know if you have any subplots you'd like to see written in, or if you have an OC, let me know, too.**

 **Leave a review on how I can improve.**

 **Sully**


	4. Chapter 4

_"When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful."_ -Malala Yousafzai

* * *

Tiana and Céline entered the thrift shop with their weapons ready. They could never be _too_ careful. The inside of the thrift shop was what they expected it to look like: looted; the only form of light coming from the outside; broken windows and spraypainted walls; anything that was left was either scattered on the ground or haphazardly thrown anywhere in the store.

"Look." Céline nudged Tiana's shoulder, nodding in the direction of a door near the back.

"It could have dead brains in it," Tiana said softly.

Céline's gaze lingered on the door for a moment. "But what if it doesn't?"

"Céline, c'mon." Tiana threw a look her friend's way. "Closed doors aren't always a good thing. Let's just find what we get and leave before the sun goes down."

 ** _—Under Pressure_** ** _—_**

While they didn't find much, Tiana and Céline did manage to find some clothes that looked like they'd fit. While clothes weren't their top priority—considering how much food and water they needed—they thought it'd be useful to have _some_ extra changes of clothes, just in case they found a place they could get cleaned up in.

"There weren't that many dead brains in there," Céline said, after they left.

"Yeah." Tiana was trying to focus on putting her machete away. "That's always a relief."

"We should probably find a place to stay."

"I think we're good here." The sun was pretty low in the sky, and they couldn't afford to waste gas trying to find a place to stay. "We'll sleep in the car and find a store tomorrow."

Sighing, Celine nodded.

 ** _—Under Pressure—_**

In the old world, Tiana could sleep an entire night without any disturbances. There was a possibility she could sleep through an earthquake. In the _new_ world, she hardly slept at all - _if_ at all. Sometimes, whenever Tiana closed her eyes, she'd get nightmares - that was one reason why she hardly slept. Another reason was that someone needed to be on constant watch in case of attacks - from the living or the dead.

In the new world, the living were just as dangerous as the dead.

Not everyone who was alive cared about someone else's wellbeing. It was about survival - and from the looks of it, that wouldn't be changing any time soon.

Tiana's attention went to a sound - it was distant, but it caught her attention. She had her window rolled down just a little, so enough fresh air could get in to keep the car from becoming stuffy or _(though it wasn't really working)_ smelly. Craning her neck back, she saw Céline awkwardly laying on the backseat; she had one arm draped over her eyes while the other was haphazardly dangling on the floor. From the looks of it, she wasn't making any noises at all. Looking at the rearview mirror, Tiana pursed her lips when she saw a small group of dead brains walk by. Scooting so she was low enough, Tiana tried making herself as unnoticeable as possible. She knew better than to wake Céline, though part of her wanted to let her know.

 _It's only what, six dead brains?_ Tiana thought. _We can't afford to draw this kind of attention to ourselves. Who knows if there're other people here._

Trying to keep herself as still as possible, she heard the dead brains shuffle by the car, snarling and groaning, occasionally bumping into the car. Céline jumped from the sound, blinking rapidly. Tiana held a hand up, trying to stop Céline from bursting from her position. Peeking up through the windshield, Tiana let out a sigh of relief when the dead brains shuffled down another street.

"Why didn't you wake me?" Céline muttered, rubbing her eyes tiredly.

"You were exhausted."

"I'll take watch now." Céline sighed, stifling a yawn. "Take a rest."

Tiana shook her head. "I'll be fine."

"You're no good if you're exhausted." Tiana caught a hidden meaning behind Celine's words. _You're no good to me if you're exhausted_. Sighing, Tiana nodded.

 ** _—Under Pressure_** ** _—_**

By the time Tiana woke the next morning, right as the sun was coming up, she felt even more tired than before. Sighing, she tried rubbing the grittiness out of her eyes and tried gathering her bearings.

"You're lucky," Céline said. "There wasn't a single dead brain that came by here."

Tiana grunted in response.

"It's funny," she added, "how after all this time, you're _still_ not a morning person."

"I hate mornings more than I hate dead brains," Tiana responded.

"That must be saying something."

Tiana snorted.

"We should start heading out," Céline said, looking back at Tiana. "We're wasting sunlight."

Grabbing their backpacks, they headed out. They had all they could get from the thrift shop, all they had to do was get more canned goods _(and maybe some medicine)_ and then they'd call it good.

The further they went to where the shops were, the more dead brains they were starting to see. A knot formed in Tiana's stomach - had there been that many the day before? Swallowing thickly, she gripped her machete a little tighter. She saw Céline tense out of the corner of her eye.

When the first dead brain noticed them, Tiana took a deep breath, readying herself for what she knew was going to happen.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **I know, I know - this chapter seemed like it was a repeat of the previous one, but I promise you I'm not doing it on purpose or anything. It happens whenever I post a new chapter. But, hopefully, there'll be enough patience from you guys until the latest one is up. I know it took a bit for this one to be up, but that was because I got sidetracked by responsibilities. May not be a valid excuse, but sometimes I get distracted and lose track of the time. But if you have any thoughts on the story so far, let me know, OK?**

 **I own nothing in TWD.**

 **Leave a review on how I can improve.**

 **Sully**


	5. Chapter 5: Author's Note

_"I could hear the sound. The sound of me breakin'. I cried because he had lived, cause he had died. I had shattered. I was saved. I only knew the girl I was, was gone. He was right. No good could come from lovin' a mortal. They can't survive in our world."_ -Lena Duchannes; **from Beautiful Creatures (2013)**

* * *

 **(A/N):**

 **I'm sorry for those of you expecting a chapter. I just want you guys to know that I am going on a hiatus for the time being, but that doesn't mean you guys can't leave reviews regarding ideas or suggestions you may have. You could PM me if you wanted. I'll try and keep track of whatever you guys want to tell me regarding the story.**

 **So, I guess that's the whole point of this author's note.**

 **I'm going on hiatus, let me know if you've got ideas and you can either PM me or leave a review.**

 **Be kind to one another, don't text and drive, and I hope you pass any unfinished finals you may have.**

 **Thanks.**

 **Sully**


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